A/N: oh tired, I should be sleeping. Still waiting desperately for rain. The fire danger here is now "extreme." And skies are still clear and blue. I startled crows that were drinking from a leaky pipe that drains AC humidity stuff from a roof at work. It's depressing since I really like rain. And my iTunes is being a bitch, pardon my French. Ugh. I had to remake all my playlists and it's reconverting all of these old music files, it's taken 4-plus hours, it's still doing it as I type this. It really stinks.
Disclaimer: No, do not own them.
Last Chapter: a little wrap-up. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Tsukiyume were briefly examined. Inuyasha has not yet forgiven Kagome. Sesshomaru and Rin traveled for the Western Lands. They remain icy, not having dealt openly with anything that lies between them. Rin's constitution is delicate, her pregnancy is advanced. Only a little further and her baby will survive, but she needs to stay calm in the final haul…
Grudges, Ramen, and Tea
Alone in the castle with her now, Sesshomaru stood frozen, straining his senses and burying his dark, bitter mood. He moved silently to stand in the doorway to the room where the guard had left her. Rin sat motionlessly on the musty matting. Her clothes were filthy, her feet and calves caked with mud. The scent of her sweat was strong, almost overpowering to him.
She needed a bath desperately, but Sesshomaru was anything but a maid or a caretaker. The most he could do was join her for meals, and perhaps, in the wilds, slaughter something. He had saved her life, allowed her to be educated, fed, clothed, every aspect cared for, but most of it happened indirectly, not by his own hand, but by the many hired and helping hands of servants loyal to him.
"Is Sesshomaru afraid Rin will escape him, even now?" her voice reached him, quavering weakly.
Sesshomaru stiffened, but his face remained unchanged. Rin didn't turn to look at him so he continued staring unabashedly at her disheveled hair, her dirt-stained clothes. Without responding to her, he snatched the sliding door and shut it, closing her inside the room alone.
A/N: I had someone request something from Ginrei. Alas I feel little would be happening there, but I put together a little something anyway. Hope you enjoy.
Jaken had taken the day-to-day care of the Naishougoto palace into his frog-like hands. More maids were brought in to serve Ginrei, more guards and keepers for the grounds. The little palace bustled, humming in the daylight hours with more people than it was truly meant to hold.
Among the additions, Jaken also had an inuyoukai healer brought in. She was an old creature, grayed and wrinkled. Her hands were gnarled, but the ancient outward appearance belied a truer strength hidden beneath. Her real name was never offered up to Jaken or to Ginrei, but instead she was called En for a sound she made often in the back of her throat.
En stayed inside the castle and often kept Ginrei company. Once a week En brewed some herb infusion, or examined Ginrei to be certain that she and the child—Sesshomaru's heir—were healthy. But the old inuyoukai became a grandmother figure to Ginrei quickly, giving Ginrei strength when the gloom of the summer downpours began and when the child inside her began to draw more heavily on her body.
It was also from En that Ginrei heard every bit of news that she could. Sesshomaru's rampage reached her ears in this way, and later the twisted love story of Rin's "abduction."
"The inuyoukai in the Middle Lands, Shimofuri," En told her in her hoarse, rasping voice, "The story on the wind is that Shimofuri took Sesshomaru's mate."
Ginrei watched the clouds passing by, picking up speed as the wind increased. She shook her head with disapproval, though her face failed to show any signs of the emotion. Her eyes were locked on the storm. They were seated on the second floor balcony, watching from the safety of the inside. The screens had been removed from the window, allowing the free air to flow in and for the inuyoukai women to see out.
"These men and their power struggles." She murmured, bitterly.
En made the deep, rumbling sound in the back of her throat that had given her the nickname everyone called her by. "Ahn." She swallowed, clearing sludge from her throat, "I may be an old bitch, lady," she gave a short, croaking laugh, "But I have sensed you yourself are not all that different from them."
Ginrei eyed the old woman at her side, her silvered eyes roving over the map of wrinkles there. The old woman was grinning keenly.
"En?" Ginrei asked, hesitantly.
The old woman leaned backward, chuckling again. "Ginrei has often told me how pleased she is that Sesshomaru's heir is hers. It is female. She will be Ginrei's child, Ginrei's heir. And Ginrei is heir to the Isei."
It was true, and Ginrei had never forgotten the arrangement Sesshomaru had offered her so many months ago. She hadn't seen him in weeks, and hadn't discussed the issue at all, but it had been agreed upon and set down in ink that as soon as Ginrei provided Sesshomaru with a suitable male heir, she would be freed from her marriage to him—and the Isei would belong to her. She could regain her former name, Nishiyori after her uncle the previous ruler of the Isei province, or that of her father, Seiyo. Ginrei would be the beginning of a new lineage, and she would have her own land, all the freedom she could want.
It was also true that she had mentioned a few thoughts that had come into her mind as the child made her belly swell, as she thought of the daughter that would be hers, and the land that would be hers. One of those thoughts had been of making the Isei a unique place all of its own, a place where the female line inherited and left the males in the dust.
The wind buffeted Naishougoto, rattling the eaves, the walls. The screens on the first floor clattered loudly. A flighty maid cried out, praying aloud.
Ginrei pulled her robes more tightly around her, touching the silk reverently. "You have a sharp mind." She smiled dryly, her thoughts lingering on the idea of power, of independence. A woman in charge of an army, a woman collecting the taxes on the farms, from the samurai, and a woman ordering the men in the palaces and the castles about. She could stand, with her daughter at her side, face to face with the inuyoukai lords that had had a hand in the plot to destroy Nishiyori, the lords who still had her family's blood on their hands, in their souls.
A dark thought had always hidden inside her at this thought, though she had never given it serious consideration. With the Isei under her control, if she were to become rich and influential enough, Ginrei could wage a war of her own and exact revenge for her slain kin, for her entire extinct clan.
And the aforementioned Shimofuri was on her list as an enemy—and so was Sesshomaru.
She kept these thoughts to herself. It was only the darkest parts of her that allowed such ideas to sprout, but her loss made her mind and heart fertile ground. If fate saw fit to give her the Isei and all the power and influence she needed, then perhaps Ginrei would be a tool of karma and destiny. It would not be her personal vendetta, but instead it would be the universe equalizing things, setting them right.
Whether En had surmised all of this or not, Ginrei couldn't begin to guess, and she wasn't about to reveal it all. If En was loyal to Sesshomaru than it would surely get back to him, and then her husband would quash her for certain.
"Ahn," the old woman grunted, rubbing her chin, "What was it that you wished to name your daughter?" she asked, addressing Ginrei directly now.
Ginrei's smile remained unchanged, like a mask's, but now her gaze softened, genuine mirth reached her eyes. "Hanone."
En nodded, "Befitting."
They were silent for a time, watching the storm. Then, through the distant, low rumble of thunder, they heard the pitter-patter of Jaken's moist, flat feet. He stumbled into the doorway, rolling open the screen to look in on them with his round, wide eyes. "What are you doing?" he cried, sounding very much alarmed.
Ginrei and En turned to look at him, both appeared unconcerned. En answered him. "Talking." She grunted.
"With the doors open?" Jaken huffed indignantly and plodded into the room, pushing his way gruffly between the two women and forcing his squat little toady body against the sliding screens between them and the outside balcony. He spoke to them in a strained voice as he worked. "You should both know better! Lady Ginrei, and En! Especially Lady Ginrei! In your condition!"
En sneered at him. "In my day a proper inuyoukai bitch birthed her pup in the thick of the wilderness with just her mate there." She coughed hoarsely and then scowled between Jaken and Ginrei. "Where is Lord Sesshomaru? Why hasn't he come to visit his wife and heir?"
Jaken stopped pushing on the screens to glower irritably. "Our lord does what he wishes! Who are you to question the great Sesshomaru?"
En grunted, unimpressed. "I'm no one. Lady Ginrei is his wife, carrying his heir." She pulled on her fingers, snapping the joints loudly. In spite of her gnarled, aged hands, her claws were still bright and strong, impressive things. "In my day when a male failed to hover over the female carrying his offspring…" she let her voice trail away and instead offered up a quick, violent motion, signaling something unpleasant and probably maiming if not fatal.
Jaken blustered with rage, trying to speak in Sesshomaru's defense, but En cut him off, speaking to Ginrei directly again, ignoring the toad completely. "I know where your husband is, though. Rumor has it that he's killing a few of his own people in the west. A whole samurai clan. Worthless lot them, good riddance."
Ginrei tipped her head slightly to one side. "Why would he be doing that?"
Jaken jabbed one clawed finger at En, "You would do well to learn some manners, old hag! I will have you dismissed if…"
Ginrei shook her head, "No, Jaken, please, as a favor to me, will you allow her to stay?" she met Jaken's gaze with her own and didn't back down.
The toad stared at her for a moment and then heaved a heavy sigh. His shoulders sagged pathetically. "Yes, Lady Ginrei, of course."
Ginrei smiled, "Thank you, Jaken."
Before Jaken could speak anymore to acknowledge her, En interrupted in a deep, gravelly voice. "You're too indulgent, Ginrei. You'll never rule the Isei like that."
Ginrei pursed her lips, staring ahead at the now closed screens while Jaken was taken aback. He mumbled confusedly, demanding to know what En was talking about. The deal between Sesshomaru and Ginrei had never been divulged to the little toad and no one was about to tell him about it now. En ignored his outburst altogether and continued with her previous thought, staring at Ginrei keenly through the darkness of the room.
"Maybe Hanone would be better suited—like her father, but with her mother's ambitions." En grinned darkly.
Ginrei avoided the older woman's eyes, uncertain, wary. En was an unknown to her, and Ginrei herself hardly knew where she stood. Would she be loyal to Sesshomaru when their marriage was ended, when she had power of her own? How would she raise her daughter? She repeated the name she'd chosen for her unborn daughter over and over inside her mind, putting names alongside it, feeling for the right fit.
Sesshomaru Hanone. Ginrei Hanone. Nishiyori Hanone. Seiyo Hanone…
Nothing fit perfectly, the way Ginrei wanted it to. As En and Jaken began to fight and bicker in earnest, she stared into the darkness of the room listening to the thunder rolling, contemplating her future and where she would fit herself within it.
It took a few hours for fresh staff to arrive from the nearest village. Many of them were wary, wide-eyed and overwhelmed at the thought of working for a youkai. And not just any youkai, but the ruler of their lands. The healer that the guard sent ahead of him was a miko, much to Sesshomaru's distaste. Yet, considering the situation, Sesshomaru couldn't turn the woman away.
He waited inside his audience room, which was very small in the Insen, barely worthy of holding human occupants, let alone the son of the great Inutaisho. The Insen was hardly a castle, it was merely a stronghold. It occupied the top of a high, jagged peak. It had only one assailable side and when it was well-defended it would be impossible for anything short of an army to attack it.
The musty mats and rotting wood in a few of the beams sickened Sesshomaru. The castle was in ill-repair, but during his stay before he'd hauled Rin back under his hold, Sesshomaru hadn't noticed it. The world had been a different place, and he had perceived it differently. His senses had dulled and the outside world had faded while the inner landscape of his own mind had swallowed him up whole.
Now that she had returned he was aware of the smallness of the castle, the remoteness of it, and its shabbiness.
He shed his armor in the audience room, setting it carefully, piece by piece onto the matting. The hours passed and the Insen continued to bud with activity. A chef cooked food somewhere in the tiny kitchen, Sesshomaru could smell the smoke and the spices. The maids that had been secured moved about, cleaning and gathering supplies. A few guards gathered, Sesshomaru heard the single horse that the original guard had rode out on.
Water was drawn and heated, bathwater for Rin. Sesshomaru overheard a murmured conversation in a nearby hall concerning robes for Rin.
In the room where he'd last seen Rin, Sesshomaru could feel the miko healer. Her energy made his skin prickle and crawl, but he forced the sensation away, calming himself with an effort. The waiting continued.
Two maids fussed over Rin, stripping her, scrubbing her skin, washing her hair, and then drying her, combing her hair, and dressing her. The robes they provided were light and stale smelling, as if they'd been in storage for a long time. The scent made Rin's stomach twist and her head start to throb. There were no scented oils, no makeup, nothing elaborate at all, but Rin had ceased caring.
When the maids placed a mirror before her, letting Rin see herself in it while they gushed over her and complimented her, Rin frowned and looked away. Her eyes burned, filling with tears though she tried to fight them. Her face had swollen with extra weight from her pregnancy, her skin was splotchy, and her hair had lost its shine. The suffering she'd endured had marked her appearance. Rin refused to react to the maids' compliments, her appearance sickened her.
The maids escorted her back to her room where they'd made up the futon for her. Like the robes they'd provided, the blankets and the futon itself smelled sour. Rin was thankful for it anyway. Her body was like lead, the world was suffocating her, dragging her down.
A different woman appeared before her then, dressed in the red and white of a priestess. Through her fog, Rin was certain that she was back inside Inuyasha's home, fearing for her daughter as she had months ago when the priestesses from Kagome's village had saved her. She mumbled the name that she remembered from her stay there and tried to reach out to touch the woman standing over her futon.
"Hyakka?"
"No." the miko replied in a distant, cold voice. Rin flinched when she felt the woman's hands on her, poking at her breasts and abdomen.
With more energy than she'd known she possessed, Rin swatted away the priestess's hands. "Stop…"
"Forgive me," the priestess murmured, but the underlying gruffness in her voice suggested that she wasn't all that sorry for what she was about to ask, "When did you last bleed?"
Rin groggily frowned and turned her face away. "Leave me alone."
The priestess ignored her and continued poking Rin's body without care or hesitation. She fought with Rin's hands, pushing her away so that she could loosen Rin's obi and press the flat of her palm against bare flesh. Rin gave in eventually, lifting one arm to shield her face from the intruding priestess while she endured the examination.
After a time the miko withdrew, clearing her throat professionally. "Your child is advanced." There was a pause and then, in an uncertain tone, she asked, "It is hanyou?"
"Why must you know?' Rin demanded, stubbornly.
The miko smiled without mirth. "It is hanyou." She inferred from Rin's hostility the truth of the matter easily. "Pregnancies involving hanyou are difficult to predict. The child may be born before summer is out in only a week or two, or it may wait until the first snowfall to be born."
Rin frowned confusedly. "What are you saying?"
"It is not a normal pregnancy." The miko summarized, scowling. "Forgive me, I must examine you further to learn more." She grabbed at Rin's already loosened robe, but Rin slapped her hands away with shaking fingers.
"Get out of here." She gasped, blinking wildly as tears invaded her eyes and spilled rapidly onto her cheeks.
The priestess bowed stiffly and scooted back from Rin's futon, getting to her feet and leaving the room. She shut the door after her, quietly, and found a guard, requesting to see Sesshomaru. They escorted her to the audience room and admitted her without announcement. The priestess faced the inuyoukai lord and bowed awkwardly before him. Just as her powers made Sesshomaru tense, so the story was the same for the priestess. Serving a youkai unnerved her, making her skin crawl instinctually.
Sesshomaru didn't acknowledge her; in fact he wasn't even looking at her at all, as if he had no interest in her appearance before him whatsoever. After a long time the priestess spoke tentatively, realizing that Sesshomaru wasn't going to give her any kind of signal or permission. She would have to take it herself and hope for the best.
"Your lady has turned me away, Lord Sesshomaru." She murmured, trying not to frown. "I attempted to examine her but—"
"What have you found?" Sesshomaru interrupted. The room was dark; there were no windows in the room and no braziers or lights at all. It was impossible for the priestess to read Sesshomaru's expression, and his voice was ambiguous as well, distinctly uncaring.
"I do apologize, Lord Sesshomaru." She bowed a little, biting her lip, "But I was not permitted to examine your lady. What is it you want me to do?"
"She must be kept calm." Sesshomaru told her, blandly. "Until the child is ready."
"There is something I can mix up for her. It would soothe your lady and help her to sleep, but the effects will only be temporary. Eventually she will become immune to the brew…"
Sesshomaru's voice now was sharp, carrying a small but clear warning inside it. "Miko—whatever she drinks, you will also consume. If she is harmed in any way—or the child—I will have you executed."
The priestess blinked for a moment, startled. She ducked quickly into a bow, hiding her shock from him. "Yes, lord." She was committed to the job, to the payment, to the task. If she tried to back out in that moment, chances were high that Sesshomaru would have her killed on the spot for that failure as well. She was in too deep; her only choice was to do exactly as she was told.
She excused herself and turned to leave. As she exited, the miko heard Sesshomaru address the guard that had escorted her to the audience room. "You—watch over the miko. Kill her if she does not do as I've ordered."
Half an hour later, the miko, named Yuki, followed by the guard that Sesshomaru had designated as her keeper of sorts, reentered Rin's room. Rin was awake but almost unresponsive. She had had one of the maids bring her paper, ink, and a brush at some point while Yuki had been gone. When Yuki and the guard entered, she didn't look up at them but remained fixated on the paper.
The guard remained at the entrance to the door, watchfully. He was wearing a sword and some armor over his shoulders and his thighs, but no helmet. His face was smooth and surprisingly youthful, though his hair was gray. "You must drink with Lady Rin, miko." He reminded her.
Yuki nodded wordlessly. Grasped in her hands was a ceramic pot. She held it gingerly because it was hot—the mouth of the thing was still steaming. Inside was tea with the pasty mixture of sedative herbs that Yuki knew of. She walked into Rin's room stiffly, hoping faintly for the best. If she failed the penalty was death.
As Yuki approached Rin, she stopped, feeling a spurt of alarm. On the futon where she'd left Rin before, Yuki could see some brown-red splotches on the blankets. When she looked at Rin again, she noted that Sesshomaru's mate was scowling fiercely at the paper; sweat was beaded on her brow. She was in pain but refusing to show it. Even more suspiciously was the way Rin was sitting, with her legs parted awkwardly in a cross-legged position, her robes askew, and some thick, cheap matting placed underneath her like a sitting mat. But it wasn't a sitting mat, it was being used as a mop to try and save the tatami mats.
Yuki felt her own body beginning to sweat in waves of hot and cold. I'm going to die…
She sat down on the floor across from Rin and placed the pot between them. "My lady…"
Rin didn't look up at her; the paper consumed her entire world. She was holding her long sleeve back from her writing hand as she made a few tight, carefully controlled strokes. The markings were unrecognizable to Yuki.
"My lady, you must drink this with me." Yuki gestured toward the pot and then, uncertainly, she looked back at the guard. "We need teacups…"
He craned his neck around and shouted orders out into the hall, summoning the maids. A moment later a few little cups were placed in front of Yuki and Rin, little light green cups with darker green painted images of leaves over the insides and outsides. The maid that brought the cups also poured the tea for them, wrinkling up her nose silently as she smelled the bitterness of the brew.
"Please, my lady, you must drink with me, then you can continue your work." Yuki's hands were shaking as she reached for her own cup and tried to lift it to drink it and get her part of the agreement finished with.
Rin gave one short shake of her head. The muscles on her neck stood out, cording with strain and stress. At first Yuki thought Rin was responding to her question, but then she heard the other woman speak again, faintly. "Will it take away the pain?"
"It will relax you, may lady." Yuki replied, licking her lips nervously. "Please—it has a bitter taste I'm afraid, but it will make you feel better. You will sleep through the pain."
Rin's hand holding the brush stopped and then lowered. The tip smeared over the paper, obscuring a few of the characters. On a closer, although still brief inspection, Yuki found that she couldn't read them still. Rin's voice was hoarse and rasping when she spoke. "Can…can you save my baby?"
Tears spattered onto the rice paper, blurring the ink of the bizarre characters.
"I can try." Yuki held her breath, trying to hold out hope, though her spirits were fast sinking. "My lady…you are bleeding?"
Rin at last glanced at her, searching the miko's face. Her complexion was pale and gray, ashen, and her features were puffy from nearly continual crying. Her forehead and the top of her nose creased with pain. "Somewhat."
"I will do my best, my lady." Yuki bowed slightly, offering Rin respect, but the other woman flinched, completely dropping the brush now. In her sudden movement, she also knocked over the inkwell. It spilled thickly onto the matting, pooling like black blood.
"My lady?"
Rin was clutching at her belly; her face was twisted with pain. "Tell me the truth!" she croaked through clenched teeth. Her nostrils were flaring with each breath, in and out.
"Please," Yuki begged unabashedly now, "Drink this with me." She lifted one of the teacups and pushed it toward Rin as if it were a peace offering or a lavish gift. Before Rin reacted at all, Yuki had already picked up her own cup and sipped half of it down. She frowned at the taste and turned to make sure that the guard had watched the act. He had, and he nodded in acknowledgement.
Rin had begun sobbing; her breathing was hitched with pain. It caught every so often, as if Rin were on the verge of a seizure. In reality it was merely grief that overwhelmed her. "It's too soon," she choked, doubled over. When a pain hit her she gasped and froze, her body stiffened. As it passed, however, she set her hand down in the pool of black ink and then withdrew it again, astonished. She lifted her hand as it dripped with the ink and stared at it as if she'd never seen anything so amazing.
Yuki swallowed nervously, feeling her stomach curl into a ball of apprehension. "Please my lady, drink the tea…"
Bitterness warped Rin's features and she deliberately set her blackened hand into her lap and over other spots on the soured tatami matting. Yet, just when Yuki was about to speak to ask that Rin drink the tea again, Rin unexpectedly grabbed the cup and brought it to her lips. When she set the cup down on the matting it was empty except for a few drops in the bottom, and Rin was scowling disgustedly at the taste, though she said nothing.
Yuki bowed deeply, "Thank you, my lady."
Rin made a small noise, a sort of hiccup, and then she moved stiffly away from the paper and the spilled ink, clear of the mat beneath her. Yuki gasped as she saw the space that Rin had been sitting over: a pool of blood coated the mat, mimicking the spilled ink off to one side.
"My lady…" Yuki murmured, feeling despair weight her limbs and constrict her chest. The bleeding…I'll lose the child for certain, and she isn't doing very well either…
"Sesshomaru did this to me." Rin spat. Her body had begun to shake, quivering like water in an earthquake. "He's never wanted a child with me." her eyes were unfocused, gazing off into nowhere. "He did this…"
"My lady, I must examine you." Yuki's voice had grown firmer and stronger. She rose from the floor and toward the guard standing in the door. As she reached to slide the door closed, the guard moved into the room, his booted feet pressing into the old tatami mats.
"Please, sir. You cannot be here for this. Please, wait outside."
The guard seemed to realize what this examination entailed and he nodded, stepping outside of the door and allowing her to shut it without a word. His face had paled. Perhaps he was wondering if Yuki's failure would equate to his failure as well. Would he die for the priestess's shortcomings, or for the inevitability of death?
Already Yuki was starting to feel her own limbs growing heavy, a fog shrouded her mind. The thought of Rin or of Rin's unborn child dying, and with them herself, had stopped bothering her so much. There was still a dim sense of panic, but it could be pushed aside. The herbs in her brew were powerful and swiftly absorbed into the body.
Yet Rin hadn't stopped crying, and now, in wiping away her tears, she'd stained her skin with the ink on her hand. As Yuki urged her to lie on her futon and open her robe for the examination, Rin babbled deliriously about Sesshomaru's sabotage. Her emotion kept her awake, though Yuki saw that Rin was having trouble moving her lips as she spoke, and her eyes were drifting closed. Yuki wasn't doing much better either, even though she hadn't had as much of the brew.
Finally Yuki's coaxing forced the stubborn, dazed Rin onto her futon. When her head lied flat on the pillows, Rin's body went instantly limp as she lost her battle with the calming, sleep-inducing effects of the brew. Yuki went feverishly then to her work. Loosening Rin's clothes, she peeled them open and, with her lips pinched tightly together, she felt about Rin's body, her breasts and her belly, before turning her attention to the bleeding. The blood was sluggish, but it was undeniable.
Yuki stared at the ceiling, helplessly, turning her eyes away from the sight. The blood was over Rin's thighs, soaking through the under robe she wore, and into the outer one now as well. How long would it take before it reached the blankets, the sheets, and the futon mattress itself? The floor? How long before it was too much blood loss? The child had to be dead or dying. The blood was about the right amount that Yuki expected to see in a laboring woman.
Holding her breath and closing her eyes, Yuki ducked and pressed her ear to Rin's abdomen, straining with everything she had for the thumping of a heartbeat. She expected to hear Rin's heart—a slow beat set by the drugs from the tea she was ingesting—but in fact Rin's heart escaped her ears completely. Instead, powerful and pounding away like the cadence drums in a marching army; Yuki heard the child's heart.
Baffled, Yuki closed Rin's robe, tying the obi messily, and crossed the room to the door. She slid it open and faced the guard somberly. "I have finished."
"What did you find?" the guard asked, tensely. His face was pallid.
Yuki kept her eyes to the floor; her lips were still firmly pinched together. "She is bleeding. The child has a heartbeat…" she paused, blinking as she reconsidered the situation. In her examination, Yuki had seen a fairly advanced pregnancy, perhaps more so than she expected considering Rin's pronouncement: "It's too soon."
"She has entered labor." Yuki changed her prediction, drawing a deep breath.
The guard's shoulders relaxed slightly, making his armor sink in a shrugging motion. "How long?"
"It could be hours, it could be days." Yuki replied, uncertainly.
"Then I guess we're going to be here awhile." He grunted, haphazardly smiling at her.
When Inuyasha returned home, it was, inevitably, for food. Kagome had made a small meal that evening because earlier in the day she'd taken Akisame and Koinu to her mother's house. For herself it was a few fruits and vegetables and dip that she'd brought from the twentieth century. She hadn't had much of an appetite since she'd returned from visiting her family just the previous night, when Sesshomaru had come and briefly taken Koinu hostage. She'd eaten a large meal there with her mother and brother and aging grandfather. The large meal had carried her over through the day and into the current night.
It was Father's Day on the other side of the well; Kagome's aging grandfather had been the honored guest. Kagome had eaten with her family and cherished their presence, but seeing her grandfather in the time of celebration saddened her as well. In the most recent months he'd begun having problems with his joints, and then with memory. He was weakened and frail. Even his voice had gathered a wobble in it that she couldn't remember being there the last time she'd seen him.
On a shopping excursion before the dinner, Kagome had bought Inuyasha, Koinu, and Akisame all gifts. She'd bought things for Sango and Miroku too, but those gifts would have to wait for another time. Because of Father's Day, Kagome had focused on the fathers within their extended Feudal era family. Sandals that would pamper Miroku's feet, and several items for Inuyasha. A fishing pole, though she doubted he'd ever use it, a book of world history because it would amuse him, and a few things that only a wife would be privy to, such as the moisturizer she'd picked up because Inuyasha often complained of dried hands and feet, or the mineral ice for old injuries and muscle aches that came to pain him horribly just before and during the new moon.
Now she prepared Ramen with beef flavoring for her husband and waited with the noodles still hovering over the cooking fire, staying warm. Just before dark, as she anticipated, Inuyasha returned home.
She knew at once that he was in a bad mood by the way the hanyou stamped his feet on the verandah, trying to clean his feet of dirt and mud and wetness before coming inside. Normally, to be quiet, Inuyasha actually dusted his feet off with his hands. The stamping motion was something he adopted out of anger—and because he tended to forget niceties and ritual when he was bent out of shape and had his mind wrapped around something else. He was distracted by his emotion, and that made him forget to clean his feet properly.
He crossed into their home, opening and closing the front door without a word. He moved through the tiny reception room and into the kitchen area where his nose would've told him long ago there was a hot fire, guaranteeing food. The hanyou glared at her as he entered, and then let his golden eyes rove over the room, searchingly. "Where…"
Kagome interrupted him, assuaging his worry. "Koinu and Akisame are at my mother's."
Inuyasha threw his shoulders back stiffly. "Feh." His ears swiveled uncertainly. He wasn't sure why she hadn't stayed with their children, but decided not to ask when he noticed the Ramen waiting for him.
Without word, Kagome poured him a bowl, heaping the noodles and bits of meat and vegetables she'd added to the broth. Inuyasha had never complained about her editions to the basic Ramen recipe, but he'd never thanked her either. Not complaining was usually a step in the right direction for her crotchety husband. Inuyasha took the bowl from her without complaint and left for the table in the sitting room. After a moment, Kagome rose and moved to one corner of the room, snatching up a bundle wrapped in fabric.
As she entered the sitting room, Inuyasha growled irritably and pushed the Ramen away from him. "Dammit!" he pawed at his mouth, feeling inside. "Now I've burned myself."
Kagome settled across from him, slipping the bundle onto the table just to one side. "You should've blown on it a little."
He growled again, this time staring at her, his mouth pain almost forgotten. "You should've warned me—"
"You saw it was on the fire." Kagome interrupted, her eyebrows lifting high into her forehead at the venom in his voice. "I'm sorry you burned your mouth, but it wasn't my fault."
He continued to glare at her for a long moment, unwilling to drop his hostilities over it, and then at last turned his attention back to the steaming bowl. Lifting his chopsticks, he stirred the Ramen, toying with the noodles. His expression was one she'd seen Koinu wear when he'd found a tick burrowed in his skin, sucking his blood. The boy had worked with intensity, pulling the offending bloodsucker from his flesh and then cutting it carefully in half with his pinky claw. Inuyasha stirred the noodles the same way their son had squashed the tick—as if the soup had offended him.
The real offender, however, was Kagome, and she understood this. Inuyasha was prone to anger at inanimate objects it was true, but in this case his inability to let go of it, and his failure to meet her eye for any length of time, proved it clearly to her.
"Why aren't you with Koinu and Aki?" Inuyasha demanded abruptly.
"I decided I needed to stay here with you, Inuyasha." She replied, honestly, in a gentle, concerned tone.
The hanyou glanced up at her once, skeptically. "Koinu's the one that almost fuckin' died." He snarled, ears flattening. "Not me."
She sighed, slowly. "I know you left the house because you're upset. I couldn't very well leave with Koinu and Akisame without telling you, could I?"
"Feh." He answered, apparently defeated. He pinned a few noodles between his chopsticks and lifted them into his mouth, slurping unabashedly.
"Inuyasha," Kagome began, staring at her hands clasped in her lap, "I am truly sorry. I…I just wanted to help her. She was in need and, I guess I sympathized with her. I know how it feels to…" she swallowed nervously, knowing that her next words would embarrass and possibly infuriate her husband, "…to know the person you love hasn't been entirely faithful."
He jerked his head up as she finished, speaking immediately, blusteringly. "Hey! That was different! Don't pull that shit! There was nothing going on between us back then Kagome…"
"And that makes her story all the worse. Can't you see that?" she shook her head sadly, blinking back a few tears. "You must believe me, if I'd known it would end this way with Sesshomaru almost…" she covered her face briefly with her hands and then pulled them away again, going on hurriedly. "I never would've fought you on it, you were right Inuyasha, I'm sorry. Really, I am."
"Feh, cut it out—I believe you." Inuyasha's ears laid backward and he met her eyes unwaveringly now.
"Can you forgive me?" Kagome pressed.
The hanyou turned his eyes heavenward, heaving a frustrated sigh. "Yeah!"
In spite of his words, Kagome could see the reluctance in his posture and hear the hostility in his single word. He would forgive her, but it would take time, as well as effort.
Kagome sat back in her seat and pushed the bundle of fabric forward, letting it attract Inuyasha's interest. Already the hanyou had gone back to slurping his Ramen, he was always hungry. His eyes watched her movement over the bowl, the honeyed color brighter now. Setting the bowl back down half empty, he wiped his mouth messily and asked, "What's that?"
"These are a few things I got for you from my era." She smiled, hoping to encourage a lighter mood. "I hope you'll like them."
Inuyasha grunted and reached for the bundle without comment. He tugged at the fabric, opening it and exposing a little round plastic container of mineral ice, a thick, rectangular paperback book, and a bottle of skin moisturizer. For a moment he stared at the objects, blinking, then pushed aside the mineral ice and the moisturizer to get a better look at the book. "What's this?"
Kagome nodded. "It's a book, but this one's paperback." There'd been times while they were traveling when she'd caught Inuyasha reading a textbook she'd left out. Until the first time she'd witnessed that, she hadn't known Inuyasha could read anything more than a young child, if even that. It just didn't seem necessary for him considering what he was and how he lived. Yet, she'd realized he was smarter than he let on early in her acquaintance.
Later, after they knew one another much more intimately, she'd tried to share the books with him, novels or other things on subjects she thought he would enjoy, and had discovered that Inuyasha actually couldn't read as she thought he could. Between the Feudal era when he was taught and her own time, Japanese had changed enough that Inuyasha could read her textbooks, but there were many characters that had changed. It was like listening to someone with a heavy accent. He could pick out words he knew among those he didn't and from there gather a basic understanding. Now she'd managed to get him to learn more and to keep reading, though he continued to treat books as though they were foreign and more frustrating than anything else.
"A Brief History of the World…" Inuyasha repeated, narrowing his eyes on the title carefully. He thumbed at the pages and scowled deeply. "Brief?"
"You'll like it." Kagome assured him, smilingly. "The author is funny. It'll tell you about all the other places around the world and what happens there, what it's like."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Feh." He let the book go and poked at the mineral ice and the moisturizer. "Mineral ice." he read the characters aloud and then noticed the English characters as well and scoffed derisively. "This is what you're teaching Koinu and Aki."
She nodded, "It's called English. Do you want to learn too?"
"Not a chance!" he shot back, grumblingly. He touched the bottle of moisturizer and frowned at the word on the label. "What the hell is that? I can't read it."
The word was one that didn't exist in the Feudal era. Kagome explained the character and the word patiently, then told him its purpose. "It's to put on your skin, a cream. It gets rid of dry skin. You know when your hands and feet are dry in the winter…"
The hanyou's ears pricked up eagerly. "Feh." He held the bottle in one hand, still examining it, but though he wouldn't say as much, Kagome could tell it'd been, strangely, a good choice.
"Thanks." He told her after a while, gruntingly.
"You're welcome." Kagome replied, gently. She watched as he went back to his Ramen, slurping it and catching pieces of meat between his chopsticks and sniffing at them before stuffing them into his mouth. After he'd eaten most of it and had lifted the bowl to swallow the rest of the broth, Kagome got to her feet and circled around the table to sit behind him. His ears followed her as she moved, tracking her.
When she sat down behind him, Inuyasha set down the bowl and, through an interrupting burp, demanded, "What are you up to?"
She didn't answer; instead her fingers found his ears and stroked them lightly with fingertips and fingernails. His posture changed, he inhaled sharply once, but he pulled his head away from her and turned to glare at her with one golden eye angrily. "Stop that."
Kagome sighed, frustrated. She'd hoped she could diffuse Inuyasha's anger, but he was being very thoroughly stubborn. It was impossible for Kagome to do anything else other than what she had—apologize. There was no way to take back what had happened, it was in the past. Holding a grudge would get neither of them anywhere good. And yet, as she stared at her husband's golden glare, Kagome knew that when their positions had been reversed and she was angry over something…
It was very hard to just drop emotion, especially if it was a powerful one.
Defeated, Kagome reached out and stroked his shoulder, squeezing it as she got to her feet. "I'm going to clean up, Inuyasha. I hope you enjoyed the Ramen. I…I am sorry…"
His ears flattened and his mouth opened as if he were about to speak, but Kagome ducked in front of him and snatched his empty bowl and disappeared into the kitchen before he said anything. She didn't trust him not to be venomous just yet. He wasn't ready to forgive her; the threat had been too near, too severe. She'd give him a little more time…
And more later...I don't know what was wrong with FFnet but it refused to let me upload this chapter for a long time. Has anyone else had that problem? Any idea why it flakes out like that?